Amanda Waller concluded that the world needed a superhero named Batman. She used her contacts to head Project Batman Beyond. After a rigorous profile search, Waller found a suitable psychological match with Bruce Wayne's parents. They were a young Neo Gotham couple, Warren and Mary McGinnis. Under the facade of a routine physical, Warren McGinnis was injected with a nanotech payload that rewrote his genetic material with Bruce Wayne's. Soon after, the McGinnis' had their first son, Terry. At age eight, Waller planned to reinact Wayne's tragedy and have the McGinnis parents assassinated. Phantasm, her contract killer, refused to complete the hit and argued that Batman would never resort to murder, no matter what.

Terry McGinnis went on to live happily for a few more years. He appeared to have bonded with his father more than his mother. One of McGinnis' memories was trips to the Wildlife Waystation. However, when McGinnis was 14, his parents went through a divorce. Angry and confused, he went off with his friend Charlie Bigelow and ended up being dragged into a heist. It was prevented by the police. While Bigelow downplayed McGinnis' involvement and went to prison, McGinnis was tried as a minor and served 90 days in juvenile hall. He left with a clean record but a lingering guilt. Into his teenage years, McGinnis attended Hamilton High School with his girlfriend, Dana Tan.

One fateful night, McGinnis got into an argument with his father over school and left the house to go out with Tan. Behind the scenes, Warren McGinnis had found out that his employer, Derek Powers was selling biological weapons to foreign countries illegally. He was slain and the murder was covered up by Powers but not before he was able to hide the only evidence, a CD, in one of the family portraits. Meanwhile, McGinnis got into an altercation with a gang of Jokerz, runaway punks modeled after the late psychopathic murderer, the Joker. He led them on a high speed chase that ended on the Wayne Estate. McGinnis had a chane encounter with the elderly Bruce Wayne and chased off the Jokerz.

However, Wayne was tired easily and relied on McGinnis to get him back to his manor and give him his heart medication. Instead of leaving afterwards, McGinnis was curious and looked around only to stumble upon the Batcave. Wayne cast him out. McGinnis arrived home to swarms of police and his mother and ran into see his dead father. While unpacking his belongings at his mother's apartment, McGinnis found the CD. McGinnis went to Wayne for help, and when it seemed Wayne was going to turn it over to the police, whom McGinnis had difficulty trusting, he took matters into his own hands and stole Wayne's second Batsuit to confront Powers.

McGinnis earned Wayne's trust and took up a job as his part-time assistant. After time, he felt he earned the mantle of Batman. Putting his own life on hold, McGinnis patrols Gotham City as Batman. Along the way, he has come up against new and old villains alike, including Mr. Freeze, a comatose Bane, Ma Mayhem, the Royal Flush Gang, Ra's al Ghul and the Joker.

The Batsuit McGinnis wears is a technological wonder equipped with neuro-muscular amplification, rocket propulsion boots, fingertip microphones, Batarangs shot out from the wrist and later, camoflauge, making it the ultimate utility belt. Over the years, the suit was damaged and rebuilt better than the previous version. The last known addition to the suit was new circuitry that gave the ability to produce an electric charge from either the belt or hands.

After a couple years, McGinnis was asked by Superman to join the Justice League Unlimited. After accepting, he learned he was recruited to find a spy within the League. Batman was beside himself to investigate people he considered heroes his entire life. Events transpired that revealed Superman was being controlled by an alien starfish, whom he saved decades ago. Single-handedly, McGinnis was able to save the League and prevent Starro from taking over the Earth. He declined the offer to be a full-time member and returned to Neo Gotham. Over the years, McGinnis' membership was kept ambiguous much like his mentor's and he participated in many missions with the JLU. While the League was on a mission to Alpha Centauri and Gear was performing a secret mission, Static was kidnapped by a Dakota cell of Kobra. Unexpectedly, Batman found himself teamed up with a younger, timelost Static to lead the rescue. Impatient with this Static's inexperience, Batman came to realize the similarities with the one he knew.

In his early 30's, McGinnis discovered he was the son of Bruce Wayne. Wayne had suffered kidney failure and needed a donor match. McGinnis was a perfect match. The chances for that are 111:1. He tracked down Amanda Waller and learned she had rewritten Warren McGinnis' DNA without telling Wayne. McGinnis felt like everything he knew was stolen from him in an instant, however, Waller told him otherwise. Despite everything that happened, McGinnis still could live his life by his own choices. He ultimately decided to continue being Batman and planned to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Dana Tan.